Gallery Tour Questions

How to use these teaching tools:

Conduct a visual inventory- work as a group to name what you see in each piece. What do you see? Can you identify the materials? What is in the photographs? Don’t stop naming what you see until each element of the artwork has been located. Each ingredient of the piece has been carefully chosen by the artist to communicate part of the meaning.

Make some guesses about what the artwork might be about, based on what you see or feel while you look at the piece. There are no right or wrong answers here.

Then work as a group to answer the list of tour questions as you move through the gallery. Although each of the following sheets of questions can be seen as a separate storytelling layer for these artworks, combining all three will help you uncover as much information as possible while you are here viewing the exhibit.

Although the artists in this exhibit provide you with written information about their work in text panels and in the labels accompanying each piece, the art objects tell you stories in indirect ways. These tools provided to you are tour “questions”, not tour “facts.” They are not intended to tell you what the pieces are about, but instead to prompt you to think about how you can combine your own ideas about art making and communicating through art with the ideas of these two artists.

Storytelling through Materials

One of the ways that visual artists communicate is through their use of art materials, or the “stuff” the pieces are made out of. Look carefully at each piece- identify what the artist used to create it, and use these questions to figure out not only why they made these choices, but what they are saying through them

In photography, art materials can be seen in a different way. Some of the materials are obvious- paper, film, a camera. But a photographer also shows you evidence of other materials that they used, the materials that were available in the setting. These could be water, sand, plants, weather, people, and so on. So even though you are just seeing a picture of the materials, the artist still wants you to consider what those materials included in the picture can be communicating to you.

Beth Krensky-
Olive Wood
This olive wood was chosen by the artist for symbolic reasons. It is from olive trees from Bethlehem.
Where is Bethlehem? Why might a Jewish-American artist, exploring themes of Jewish migration and history use this material? What does wood symbolize? Think about the age of trees, family trees, using trees to identify specific landscapes.
Copper and Bronze
From the artist- “Copper has been used in religious ceremonies for millennia and is considered a medium between the spirit and physical worlds.” What does it mean for an artist to cast something in metal? Is it easy to do? Will the art piece last longer, does it become more precious? Are these traditional art materials?
Maps
How are maps used in this space? Are they presented in the way that you usually see maps? What do maps tell us about where we are going? Can they be used as a record of where we have been? How have these been altered? Why?
Hands and Feet
Look at the sculptures that use hands and feet as art materials or tools- stamps or forms to cast the art objects. How can hands be used as a symbol? Are handprints unique? How are feet or footprints used as a symbol?

Sama Alshaibi-
Photographs
Why might an artist choose to work as a photographer? How is a photograph different than a sculpture or a painting? How long do they last? Are they more real? Do they tell the truth? What kinds of stories are being told in these photographs- are they snapshots, formal posed pictures, documents of events, family portraits?
Location
Location or setting in a photograph can be considered one of the art materials. Which settings are being shown in these photos? What type of landscapes are these? Where in the world do you find these conditions, these plants and types of terrain? What is the temperature of the location, the type of weather, what does it smell like, or sound like?
It was important to the artist to use “authentic” locations, to be in the actual places even though there are other places that she could have photographed that would look similar to us. Why do you think the real locations were important to her?
Figures
Some of these photographs include the figure of the artist. What does it mean to use your body as an art material? How might it be different if the artist had hired a model? Where is the figure looking in the photograph? What do you think the mood of the figure is? Do you use her facial expression to guess at the meaning of the photograph?

Storytelling with Themes

Beth Krensky and Sama Alshaibi are interested in similar themes in their artwork. This is partly due to the conditions they find themselves in, existing between differing cultures and trying to bridge those cultures. Use this discussion of themes in the work to unlock the information presented to you here.

Ritual-
What is a ritual? How can making art be a ritual? Where does ritual happen in your life or home? What is accomplished through ritual? How is creating your own ritual different than being taught a ritual? What objects in the space seem to involve a ritual or be about rituals?

Family History-
Both artists are interested in their family histories, and how these histories are always present in their lives. Look at the objects for clues for this theme. What is symbolic of ancestry- perhaps land/landscape, trees and branches? In what way might these objects be containers for memories of the artists’ pasts?

Land-
Specific lands and landscapes are depicted here and important to the artists. What does the idea of “land” represent for a person? Homeland? How do familiar landscapes make you feel? Think of examples of contested land. How does displacement from a landscape affect people? How does a landscape define people? Do you get to behave differently in different landscapes?

Immigration-
Both of the artists get to travel the path that their families have taken from different countries at different times. They get to do this directly, by going to different places, and also indirectly in their artwork. What is gained when someone immigrates to another country? What is lost? What are the ways that you can trace your family’s journey?

Motherhood-
Both Beth Krensky and Sama Alshaibi have dedicated this exhibit to their children. Why do you think they have chosen to do this? How is making art like being a mother? What are the hopes that mothers have for their children? What are the hopes that artists have for their art pieces?

Journey-
Traveling between one world and the next, or between landscapes, or to the past or considering the future- these are all themes of journey represented here. Look for materials and imagery that hint at this type of movement. How can art be used to travel? How can you as the viewer accompany these women on their journeys?
 Storytelling through Collaboration

This gallery space itself tells a story. On the surface it might just be a story about two women who happen to be displaying their artwork together. But the reasons why they are here together in this space go deeper than that. Use these questions to uncover information about their shared project.

How does the artist Sama Alshaibi describe her ethnic/cultural heritage?

How does the artist Beth Krensky describe her ethnic/cultural heritage?

Why is it significant for an artist who explores her connections to Palestine and being Muslim in her work to be exhibiting with an artist who uses her artwork to explore her connections to Israel and being Jewish?

How do you see the connections between their work just in how they look? How do you see the connections between their work in what they say about their interests and themes?

Are there visual similarities in Alshaibi’s and Krensky’s artwork?

How are they different?

Are there differences in how directly they each tell their story?

Are some of the pieces more personal than others?

Do the artworks “talk to each other?”

Does their artwork invite you into the conversation? If so, how?

How does using visual art to engage in a discussion about difficult things help you talk about it? What are the risks involved in doing it this way?